Realism, Classicism, and Formalism Blog Post
10/20/13
Recently, we’ve been reviewing the three “traditions” (or editing methods) used most often in filmmaking; classical, realism, and formalism. Most of our attention was focused on the type of editing necessary to produce such a genre of film, in preparation for an upcoming short film this year. To place each description in context, a short film was selected for each, with the specific scenes of interest emphasized in the accompanying paragraph with answers these questions:
-How would you describe the characteristics of the camera work, considering composition, angle, and movement.
-How would you describe the difference in the edit?
-How would you describe the quality of the story being told?
FIRSTLY, I examined examples of Classical Cutting with scenes of this film:
This filmic interpretation of Lincoln’s assassination by Griffith clearly follows the guidelines of Classical filmmaking; exposing a single storyline and respecting the expected, systematic stream of events. Camera positioning and framing does not impede comprehension, and is used to fully demonstrate the events occurring on-screen. Shots are often held static and rely on character movement to portray emotion or plot. When cuts are made from one shot to another, it is to demonstrate definite purpose or emotions that link directly to the plot; including the celebrating crowd of the auditorium and Lincoln’s reaction. No unexpected or unrelated shots are shown, ignoring certain aspects of the scenes completely. We do not immediately see a scheming assassin until the plot has developed enough to establish a villain. In this sense, the story is told quite well, as there are no dramatic denouements; the plot is expressed logically and efficiently.
SECONDLY, the use of Formalism was identified in this film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_RrNCqCIPE#t=51
Scott Pilgrim versus The World is appreciated much more for its humor, which is consistently expressed with over-the-top exaggerations of emotion. In this example, time and space is altered to generate this comedic aspect, and certain emotions portrayed in the little “side notes” are not entirely linked to reality. Adding these small bursts of animation and speeding/slowing the shot is able to create more depth and understanding, even if there are no specific connections to the obvious plot. “Speed signing” the delivery sheet for the mail is able to shorten the process of showing Pilgrim’s attraction to the girl, which may otherwise take several planned scenes. The camera work is clearly reflective of the emotions in the shot, and isolate what aspect of the scene should be emphasized.
REALISM, in more recent films, is only used to emphasize a certain scene or location; rarely being employed for an entire film. This is mainly because doing so would not attract as much attention to the plot than to the actual framing of the shot. This is most often used in establishing shot of modern movies.
This compilation of establishing shots is interesting because it all incorporates the basic aspects of realism; not being manipulated and bluntly expressing emotions to the audience. In comparison, this form of editing and filmmaking is the simplest to film, but there must be extensive planning in the pre-scripting work to get the full potential of the emotion.
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